Tag: Dot to Dot

Festival Types

I am not altogether sure the reasons why, but I was late to the plate in discovering festivals and only attended my first one as a day ticket to Reading Festival in 1995 at the tender age of 27. I also missed the years when you could feasibly obtain tickets for Glastonbury before tickets became unattainable and as a result, I have never graced Worthy Farm with a visit.  

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Glastonbury Festival. Image Credit Metro

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit shamefully I have never camped at festivals and have always stayed off site which is maybe not fully embracing the whole experience but is hugely beneficial if inclement weather strikes, which at certain sites it has regularly obliged in that regard.

Though singular ‘normal’ gigs are fun there is something enticing about outdoor festivals where you have a tsunami of bands available to you, the main stage being in the open air. They also can be hugely advantageous to discover exciting new bands and due to the short sets, the bands do not overplay their welcome. If you lose interest, you can easily wander off to either have a drink or a doughnut or seek solace in another tent or on rare occasions a cheeky bit of sunbathing!

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Festival Donut Stand. Image Credit design lovefest.

At the many festivals I have attended there have always been a variety of options, including circuses, reggae, dance, northern soul, funfairs, cinemas, a plethora of food outlets and sometimes thankfully real ale. A pair of comfy shoes is a requisite requirement.

In the last 10-15 years there has been an increase in what I would quantify as an ‘urban festival’.  These are primarily located in city centres and involve a suite of venues generally within feasible walking distance of each other. You obtain a wristband from the source venue and off you go.

Some of the events in this sphere I have attended are Live at Leeds, Hockley Hustle in Nottingham, Sounds from the Other City in Salford and Dot to Dot, Carefully Planned Festival and Off the Record in Manchester. They mingle the established venues with more innovative ones such as clothes shops and cafes.

My gig OCD can rear its head when attending these shindigs as I am always endeavouring to attend every venue on the roster and as a result, the friends who accompany me are hugely tolerant of my foibles.  

I always scour the listings as soon as they are published to identify new venues and ensure they are visited on the evening. These events can present conundrums in set time slippage and where to imbibe the odd beer or two en route. Are you fortunate to arrive at the start of the set where the band are worth staying for or do you land halfway through the last track? My overriding imperative is to catch as much music as I can on the day.

Some events can have widely dispersed venues which may involve a 20-30 minute walk from outermost venue to outermost event so even comfier shoes are required but if you are willing to put the mileage in you can cover up to 20 venues in a day!

Definition of a Gig and a Venue?

If you are anything like me, I am sure you periodically cogitate on the meaningful questions in life such as: –

How did I get here?

Where does that highway go to?

What is your favourite flavour of bonbon? – For the record mine is Toffee (the white ones) though the Vimto ones run them close.

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I was struggling for an inspired picture this week, so I have selected a bag of bonbons for you! Image credit moresweets.co.uk

However as this is a musical related blog, today I am going to consider the two tricky conundrums, what is the definition of a gig and of a venue? This has sparked numerous debates with friends in many taprooms in many towns over the years and what follows are my thoughts on these vexing questions.

Looking at the Oxford English dictionary the definition of a gig is ‘a single performance by a musician or group of musicians, especially playing modern or pop music’.

In my early gig going days I was very rigid in my interpretation of a gig in that I had to be actively intending to attend a gig beforehand to add to the list and would not count any random walk up gigs e.g.  a band on in a boozer where I have gone for a cheeky libation. As time progressed, I gradually revised this opinion leading me to cast my memory back to recall earlier gigs which met this criterion, however I am sure I am still missing a few, which shall forever be known as the ‘lost’ gigs!

Does the gig have to be a certain length of time or number of songs? I don’t personally adopt this approach as to me any length of time playing on a stage constitutes a gig, thus applying the principle of a single performance outlined in the dictionary definition above.

An anecdote springs to mind here as a couple of years ago the annual lads trip ended up in Den Bosch via Eindhoven in Holland and unexpectedly there was a Jazz Festival in full flow. One of the lads Hughie at that stage was endeavouring to attend 50 gigs in his 50th year and his strict definition was that a gig had to constitute a full five songs. Now Jazz is one of the few genres I have never really embraced, a sentiment that was shared by the whole group but a gig geek like me does not turn away a gift horse of bonus gigs like that! Thus, we were stood beer in hand at one of the stages watching ‘Groupo Des Cargos’ whose fifth song was an absolutely epic opus with at least a couple of false endings. The roar that greeted the end of the song attracted very bemused looks from the band!

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One of the stages at the Den Bosch Jazz festival. Image credit denboschtips.com

Is there an argument to say a gig should only count if you pay? I again do not embrace this ethos as you would miss out on a plethora of fine bands in a variety of settings outside the accepted norm.

In relation to outdoor Festivals such as T in the Park, I would count as one gig and one venue as it is in an enclosed outdoor setting though may have several stages. I would always count bands individually so may have 20-30 listed over a whole weekend.

However, I apply a different principle to other wrist band events such as the Dot to Dot indoor festival which involve bespoke venues, so I have been known to undertake 20 gigs and conversely 20 venues at these events.

Now, this might be a controversial one. If I go a separate individual area in the same venue, I count these as individual venues. As an example, I once attended Chorlton Irish Club and there were bands playing in the upstairs bar, downstairs bar and a separate acoustic room at the front so three venues in total were counted.

If a venue is refurbished or changes its name, I will only count this as one venue as it is the same floor space just under a different moniker!

Now, over to you as I would be fascinated in your thoughts on my personal guidelines above and whether they mirror yours.